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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28568781">Homewards Bound</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jakeishere/pseuds/jakeishere'>jakeishere</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>...yet, ;3, DEVIL ENDING SPOILERS, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, No Smut, Post-devil ending, Trans Male Character, Trans Male V (Cyberpunk 2077)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 03:55:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,130</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28568781</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jakeishere/pseuds/jakeishere</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>END GAME SPOILERS<br/>While not explicitly stated they are heavily implied.<br/>My own little continuation of the ending because damn those credit messages HURT</p><p>I don't really write a lot so be gentle with me, got inspired and the hands did the rest<br/>Also unbeta-ed</p><p>Notes the particulars at the end</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kerry Eurodyne/Male V</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>80</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Olive jar</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>His skin still didn’t feel quite right to him. Of course he knew that everything was as it was supposed to be, biologically speaking. The scars, tattoos and chrome though, they had all gone. Or rather he hasn’t gotten them yet. Something was always going to be going on in his life it seemed, even now he had his happy ending. </p><p>Maybe it was just the clothes. They were different from the clinical stuff ‘Saka had him wearing. Not bad considerably better and more comfortable in some ways, but still something he had to get used to again. The cool of the glass jar he held against the side of his chest with one arm was enough to ground him, he could focus on that rather than the way he could feel every seam and shift of his clothes and the air against his skin.</p><p>The orbital clinic didn’t have that. Wind. There was air movement sure, a person moving by to check his specs, walking through a door, a cupboard opening and fanning the area around it. The wind was something else. Though it was a gentle breeze it felt almost unrelenting in comparison to the stillness of space. Even with the tall collar of his jacket the short fine hairs on the back of his neck still picked it up, giving him goosebumps. At least the air in North Oaks smelled slightly fresher than that of the city.</p><p>He didn’t drive up here. No, he didn’t trust himself with that yet. This body still felt all too new and he still found himself bumping his knees and shoulders into things accidentally. If he was a menace on the streets before then he’d be diabolical on them now.</p><p>V watched as the black cab pulled away from the gate, leaving him there in the afternoon sun. It had been nice to catch up with Delamain. The AI had so much to talk about. New goings on in the city, traffic changes and developments. Well, they were important things to Delamain and he did sound enthused about them so V happy listened.</p><p>But now it was just him again. Alone with his thoughts. </p><p>His and no one else’s.</p><p>He took a deep breath, looking down the road to try and spot Delamain before he went out of view but he was already gone. V had zoned out again, had probably been standing there for a few minutes without even knowing.</p><p>The back of his jacket pressed against the wall as he leaned on it, one hand pushing the call button on the intercom, only having to wait a few moments before a reply came. That slurred voice coming through.</p><p>“Hello? Who is it?”</p><p>His throat tightened, the edges of his eyelids going red.</p><p>“Hey, Mister Eurodyne? Got a delivery for ya? Jar of olives.” He was getting choked up already and he hadn’t even seen the man, the tears that were welling up strangling his voice and making him sound different.</p><p>“Fuck, right. C’mon through.”</p><p>The gate buzzed as it opened.</p><p>Another heavy breath of air was sucked into his lungs though he knew this moment was not one he lost. Instead it stretched on for an eternity as the gate’s motor smoothly shifted the bars to the side.</p><p>The driveway didn’t feel so long before. Then again, he hadn’t ever really gone down the driveway towards the house before. The one time he’d come here he’d climbed up the side, snooped around with Johnny criticising. He should have visited more before, before… What would he have to say about the illuminated road, trimmed hedges and manicured grass. Fuck, were those flamingos? He could imagine Johnny glitching into his vision to bend over with his hands on his hips, look at them closer as if it would help him see any better. “A classic.”  Well, maybe a bit cliche. </p><p>The security bots didn’t pay him any mind, simply looking at him as he approached the door, knocking with the back of his knuckles. That hurt more than he thought it should. Still his nerves were oversensitive. He’d wondered how long it would take for them to calm down.</p><p>“Comin’! I’m comin’, hold on…”</p><p>He could hear the boots approaching the door, his throat tightening further and tears brimming. No, he didn’t want to cry. He wanted to be able to see Ker clearly, without tears in the way.</p><p>The door opened.</p><p>“Hey, th-” The words died somewhere in that chrome throat of his as those wonderful eyes saw him. V’s vision was already blurring at the edges.</p><p>“H-hey. Got your olives.” He could barely manage anything above a whisper.</p><p>Kerry smiled and took a step forward, but only one before the smile faded and the rockerboy got a closer look at him. How naked he must look to those eyes. No implant lines over his eyes and cheeks, none of the freckles he’d gotten from days in the sun, the only marks being his light little beauty spots. Most noticeably the scar that split his lip and dimpled two rough lines up his cheek was gone. Hell, even his nails weren’t painted anymore. He must look like a completely different person.</p><p>“V, what… where-” It was the rocker’s turn to have his eyes water up, the chrome in his neck not preventing him from getting choked by his emotions.</p><p>There was clearly going to be so much to talk about, so many questions. About him, about Arasaka, space, where all his implants and scars went. Ker would be able to figure out why V’s body looked brand new.</p><p>“V…” </p><p>He took the jar, carelessly plonking on the floor before he was standing right in front of him. The tears had already fallen from the merc’s eyes, looking full of shame and hope.</p><p>“Sorry I took so long, got here-”</p><p>“Shut up.” The voice cut him off and Kerry realised he’d sound harsher than he had meant to, so he uttered the words again. Softer this time. “Shut up.”</p><p>Those callused fingers found his face, the thumbs wiping tears away and the soft palms cradling his jaw. He could do nothing but press his face further into those hands, a weak and relieved smile drawing on his lips before the hands shifted and Kerry pulled him in. One arm around his shoulders and another hand holding the back of his head. It took a moment for him to realise what to do before his arms went around the other man’s chest.</p><p>It felt like he couldn’t hug him tight enough, couldn’t hold enough of him. He pressed his face into the man’s shoulder, breathing him in and getting tears on his skin.</p><p>He’d be alright.</p><p>He was home now.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Ghosts of ghosts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A nightmare V just can't seem to wake up from. A world without Johnny Silverhand.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> “V.” </em>
</p>
<p><br/>The softest of silk sheets surrounded him, a warm body sharing them with him. The man’s gentle breathing sounded so sweet.</p>
<p><br/>It wasn’t Kerry that had woken him up, he knew that. It was his ghost.</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <em> “Just gonna lay there?” </em>
</p>
<p><br/>Johnny. Where was he? Turning his head V couldn’t find the fragmented and glitchy figure anywhere in the bedroom.</p>
<p><br/>His body shifted so easily out of the sheets, feet carrying him down the stairs, head still looking for that other rockerboy, trying to follow that voice. His legs bring him across the ground floor, outside to that blue pool.</p>
<p><br/>Beyond the trimmed hedges that fenced in Kerry’s property was nothing. None of those yellow Californian hills, no cars, no freeways, no Night City. Just the cold twinkling of distant stars all around. He stands at the edge of the pool, looking around into the endless sky, as if any of those little lights could be Johnny. One of them had to be. </p>
<p><br/>“Johnny?”</p>
<p><br/>He had to be here, somewhere. Or out there. He was still somewhere, right?</p>
<p><br/>Looking down in the water he sees something in the ripples, darkness that didn’t belong to him and leaning over the water he could see those ripples and reflections begin to resemble the man he was trying to find.</p>
<p><br/>Hands reach out, towards the water, trying to catch the image before it can evade him. Fingers breach the water as he falls forwards, eyes shutting as his face meets the surface.</p>
<p><br/>Arms close around nothing, and when he opens his eyes V doesn’t see the blue of the pool he had fallen into but the darkness of space. There’s nothing to orient himself by but still he looks at the stars like he would be able to tell which one is Johnny, find him.</p>
<p><br/>Air leaves him as he tries to call out but sound refuses to carry out into that shining abyss.</p>
<p><br/>He can’t tell if the stars are going out or if his eyes are closing before the end.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>---</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Air rushes back in as his eyes open, finding the ceiling of Kerry’s bedroom. His sweat is making the silk sheets stick to his skin.</p>
<p><br/>Looking over he can only feel relieved that he hadn’t woken Kerry.</p>
<p><br/>As gently as he can he peels the sheets off, placing them neatly back as he gets out. No need to bother the man with his current existential crisis.</p>
<p><br/>He takes himself down the same path down the stairs and out to the pool. The hills, cars, and Night City are all still there. The lights beyond windows of megabuildings and skyscrapers alike creating a shining mosaic.</p>
<p><br/>And up, up in the sky, there are no stars.</p>
<p><br/>Night City never had any stars, it’s smog and light pollution always blocked them out. Still, though he knew this, for a moment he thought he was still stuck in that nightmare.</p>
<p><br/>But wasn’t he though?</p>
<p><br/>Chasing a ghost of a ghost, looking for him around every corner because he had gotten so used to him just being there.</p>
<p><br/>And now he wasn’t.</p>
<p><br/>His throat choked and face burned as tears welled up.</p>
<p><br/>Of course Johnny had been right.</p>
<p><br/>About Arasaka. About the world. About how he betrayed himself. Johnny had become a part of his head and V had become a part of the construct and he was incomplete without him.</p>
<p><br/>Hollow.</p>
<p><br/>He found one of the deck chairs, sitting himself on it and looking to the stars, hoping without reason that one of those distant stars would twinkle and tell him it’d all be okay.</p>
<p><br/>There are footsteps approaching and for a moment, for one stupid fucking moment he believed that the stars had answered him.</p>
<p><br/>And then he realised that he wasn’t hearing the wooden heels of Johnny’s boots.</p>
<p><br/>“V? … You okay?”</p>
<p><br/>Through his tears he could see Kerry, the blue light emanating from the pool colouring those golden implants silver. The rockerboy didn’t need an answer to the question to know.</p>
<p><br/>He sat down with V, leaning against him before pulling the merc into a hug, holding the man against his chest. A calloused thumb gently rubbed the skin next to where his hand rested on his back.</p>
<p><br/>Even before Kerry’s touch would gravitate there, pulled by the presence of a jagged scar that dipped his skin. But now there was no scar there. Both he and Kerry had to get used to this new body. The same but different.</p>
<p><br/>“Could’a woken me up, you don’t gotta be alone.” His voice was whispered into the top of V’s hair.</p>
<p><br/>“Didn’t know I was alone ‘til I got out here.”</p>
<p><br/>Kerry never wanted to really talk with V about Johnny when they were still together. He understood, it would have sounded like some hoodoo seance bullshit. He’d only explained a little about what it was like since then but not too much. Kerry was his input, not a damn shrink.</p>
<p><br/>Though, he can’t imagine that there are any shrinks in the world qualified to deal with what he was going through.</p>
<p><br/>Kerry can only hold him tighter, the warmth from where their bodies touched contrasting the still cool air of the night.</p>
<p><br/>“Let’s go back to bed, huh?” A hand gently rubs his shoulder, doing his best to comfort.</p>
<p><br/>“Stay out here a lil’ longer?” He didn’t know what he was hoping for, just that he could imagine Johnny insulting him by likening him to a pathetic dog waiting for it’s owner to come home. At least in the early days he would have said that.</p>
<p><br/>Kerry was kinder than that.</p>
<p><br/>“‘Course, lemme just grab something.”</p>
<p><br/>The warmth left him and he sat up, looking at the pool, waiting for dark reflections in the ripples before Kerry was back at his side again, setting a blanket down on the deck chair before putting another around V’s shoulders. Once again he pulled him into a hug and they lay there.</p>
<p><br/><br/>Kerry watching V.</p>
<p><br/><br/>V searching for stars.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Any comments are welcome and much appreciated!!~</p>
<p>Caught myself thinking more about the aftermath, living with a piece of yourself missing.<br/>V and Johnny didn't just share a life, they shared an existence, experienced in two different ways at the same time. I hope it's clear that V loved Johnny</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey! You made it this far! Woo, yeehaw, yippee, ect.</p><p>So with this I kinda made it so Arasaka gave V a clone body. Because like... fuckin' 'Saka, y'know?<br/>Seems like something they'd do. They'd probably rationalise it like "Well his engram is safe but this dead body belongs to us now since it died here so I guess we could take some tissue samples." And if Saburo had his engram backed up you can BET he was looking at cloning and shit for either immortal reasons or war reasons. It doesn't seem like too far of a stretch to me for them to be able to clone someone but that's just me.</p><p>I hope you enjoyed it! The devil ending made me hurt real bad and I'm here to spread that around :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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